'Castle' recap: Did you spy the ending coming in 'The Lives of Others'

It may have been a far-fetched concept to have Richard Castle (
Nathan Fillion) witness a murder, "Rear Window"-style, but you have to give
"Castle" credit for committing to its farce. At no point -- before the show's 100th episode's final minutes anyway -- did the trickster-style truth peek through.

Or did it? Did you see the ending coming in "The Lives of Others"?

Were there any clues, other than the basic insanity of a murder occurring directly across from Castle's window right when he was bored and looking? There actually were very few, but what might have told us that the ending was coming?

The twist was hinted at in a previous episode.Back in February, we may have gotten our first hint to the outcome of "The Lives of Others."

At one point in the investigation that made up the show's Valentine's Day episode, Castle got frustrated by a particularly tricky case. He suddenly guessed that this was Beckett's (
Stana Katic) Valentine's Day present to him -- a convoluted, weird case in which nothing was as it seemed.

That wasn't the case then, but you just know that this inspired Beckett to pull her birthday prank.

The punishment didn't fit the crime.When Castle's extreme interest in his neighbor led to some minor felonies, shouldn't Captain Gates have been a little angrier? Sure, she yelled at Castle and lectured Beckett a bit, but we're talking about actual crimes. If nothing else, there should have been serious threats about suspending Beckett and banning Castle from the precinct.

Castle's birthdayIt was brought up early that Castle's birthday was coming. The question that should have been on all our minds was, "Wait? Why?"

An event as big as Castle's birthday cannot be brought up for no purpose. Since it didn't factor into the main murder story in any way, this should have been a clue for us that something was up.

Did anyone break character?One of the things that made it so hard to catch the trick of this episode was the way each character -- other than Castle himself -- sold his or her role in the plot. Everyone acted the way we would expect, even when Castle wasn't watching.

Honestly, this was the one thing that made me
not think the episode was a joke. The characters really did stick to the story.

April Fool's!The scheduling of the 100th episode of "Castle" might have been the biggest clue of all. If we assume that the producers knew in advance which day this would air, it's likely that a joke episode was always in the cards, no matter what.

Of course, if this were actually a coincidence, it's even more impressive!

What did you think of the 100th episode of "Castle"? Did you figure out the twist?